BT boss takes home £5.6m as pay and bonus package more than doubles
Allison Kirkby’s BT pay rose to £5.6m after the company’s share price climbed nearly 80%, driven by cash bonus and long-term shares.
Intelligence analysis by GPT-5.4 Mini
BT chief executive Allison Kirkby received a £5.58m pay, bonus and share package for the year to March, more than double the previous year. The rise was helped by a sharp share-price gain as BT’s long restructuring effort began to show results.
BT’s boss got a much bigger reward because the company’s share price went up a lot. It is like a score rising in a game: when the team does better, the prize gets bigger too.
Analysis
Pay package jumps
BT chief executive Allison Kirkby received £5.58m in pay, bonus and share awards for the year to the end of March. That is more than double the £2.48m she got in her first year in charge, and it is the largest reward for a BT boss in more than a decade.
The package included a £1m cash bonus and £3.25m in long-term share awards. The share element is set to vest over three years, which means its value can change with BT’s stock performance.
Share price and restructuring
The company’s share price has risen almost 80% since Kirkby became chief executive in February 2024. The article links that gain to the market’s response to BT’s long and costly restructuring programme, which has been underway alongside network investment.
BT said the pay figure now includes the estimated value of the long-term awards for the first time, and that those awards have benefited from the higher share price. Kirkby’s salary also rose 3% to £1.1m this year.
Wider company context
The article places the pay rise against BT’s broader transformation plans. In 2021 the company announced a £15bn investment in full-fibre broadband and 5G masts. In 2023 it said it would cut 55,000 jobs by 2030 as its build-out phase ended and more of the business was automated with AI.
BT also said it agreed pay rises with unions for lower-paid staff and for those earning above £30,000, suggesting the company is trying to balance executive reward with workforce pay.
Key points
- Allison Kirkby received a £5.58m package for the year to March, more than double her previous year’s pay.
- The award included a £1m cash bonus and £3.25m in long-term share awards.
- BT’s share price has risen almost 80% since she became chief executive in February 2024.
- BT said the increase reflected the value of long-term awards and the company’s restructuring progress.
- The article links the pay story to BT’s wider fibre, 5G and workforce-reduction plans.
If BT keeps improving and its share price stays strong, the long-term awards could keep rewarding performance rather than just seniority. The company’s investment in fibre and mobile networks could also support more stable growth if the restructuring continues to pay off.
The size of the pay award could intensify criticism if customers or workers feel the gains are not being shared evenly. Because part of the package depends on future share performance, a weaker market or a stumble in the turnaround could reduce its value.
